Alcohol consumption can
have adverse social and economic effects on the individual
drinker, the drinker’s immediate environment and society as a
whole. Indeed, individuals other than the drinker can be
affected, for example, by traffic accidents or violence. It has
an impact on society as a whole in terms of resources required
for criminal justice, health care and other social
institutions.

5.1 How can work performance be affected by alcohol consumption?

Absences - There is ample evidence
that people with
alcohol dependence and
drinking problems are on sick leave more frequently than
other employees, with a significant cost to employees,
employers, and social security systems. In Costa Rica, an
estimated 30% of absenteeism may be due to
alcohol. In Australia,
a survey showed that workers with drinking problems are
nearly 3 times more likely than others to have
injury-related absences from work.

Work accidents - In Great Britain, up
to 25% of workplace accidents and around 60% of fatal
accidents at work may be linked to alcohol. In India about
40% of work accidents have been attributed to alcohol use.

Productivity -
Heavy drinking at work
may reduce productivity. In Latvia, 10% of productivity
losses are attributed to alcohol. Performance at work may be
affected both by the volume and pattern of drinking.
Co-workers perceive that heavy drinkers have lower
performance, problems in personal relationships and lack of
self-direction, though drinkers themselves do not
necessarily perceive effects on their work performance

Unemployment- Heavy drinking or
alcohol abuse may lead to unemployment and unemployment may
lead to increased drinking.

5.2 How can the familly be affected by alcohol consumption?

Drinking can impair how a person performs as a parent, a
partner as well as how (s)he contributes to the functioning of
the household. It can have lasting effects on their partner and
children, for instance through home accidents and
violence.

Children can suffer
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
(FASD), when mothers drink during pregnancy. After birth,
parental drinking can lead to child abuse and numerous other
impacts on the child’s social, psychological and economic
environment.

The impact of drinking on family life can include substantial
mental health problems for other family members, such as
anxiety, fear and
depression.

Drinking outside the home can mean less time spent at home.
The financial costs of
alcohol purchase and
medical treatment, as well as lost wages can leave other family
members destitute. When men drink it often primarily affects
their mothers or partners who may need to contribute more to the
income of the household and who run an increased risk of
violence or HIV infection.

5.3 What is the link between alcohol and poverty?

The economic consequences of
alcohol consumption can be
severe, particularly for the poor.

Apart from money spent on drinks, heavy drinkers may suffer
other economic problems such as lower wages and lost employment
opportunities, increased medical and legal expenses, and
decreased eligibility for loans. A survey in Sri Lanka indicated
that for 7% of men, the amount spent on
alcohol exceeded their
income.

5.4 What is the link between alcohol and violence between partners?

Alcohol plays a role in a
substantial number of domestic violence incidents, especially in
the case of abusing husbands. Often both the offender and the
victim have been drinking.

The relationship between
alcohol and domestic
violence is complex and the precise role of alcohol remains
unclear. Heavy drinking has
been strongly linked to violence between partners and to a
lesser extent to violence towards others, possibly because
proximity increases the opportunities for violence.

Studies conducted for instance in Nigeria, South Africa,
Uganda, India, and Colombia show that a large fraction of
reported domestic violence incidents is related to
alcohol use by the male
partner. For instance, in Uganda, 52% of the women who recently
experienced domestic violence reported that their partner had
consumed alcohol, and in India, 33% of abusing husbands were
using alcohol. There is a need to better understand the possible
role of alcohol intoxication or
dependence in the processes
through which incidents escalate into violence.

There is little doubt that
alcohol consumption has
many social consequences, but more quantifiable data is needed
to enable meaningful comparisons between countries.

5.5 What are the estimated economic and social costs?

Strong efforts are made in many countries to estimate the
overall economic and social costs of
alcohol use.

Alcohol abuse can cause social and economic problems

Social and economic costs cover the negative
economic impacts of alcohol
consumption on the material welfare of the society as a
whole.They comprise both direct costs - the value of goods and
services delivered to address the harmful effects of alcohol,
and indirect costs - the value of personal productive services
that are not delivered as a consequence of drinking.

In industrialized countries, estimates of social and economic
costs of alcohol use can
reach several percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
ranging for instance from 1.1% in Canada to 5-6% in the case of
Italy.

Estimates of social and economic costs can help:

make the case for public policies on alcohol,

target policies and public expenditure on the most
important problems (e.g. the costs of alcohol versus other
psychoactive drugs such as tobacco),

identify information gaps,

assess the effectiveness of policies and programmes
against alcohol abuse.

Estimating the costs of the impact of
alcohol on the material
welfare of society is often difficult and requires estimates of
the social costs of treatment, prevention, research, law
enforcement, lost productivity and some measure of years and
quality of life lost.